Better order meal before I make speech (10)
I believe the answer is:
ameliorate
'better' is the definition.
('ameliorate' can be a synonym of 'better')
'order meal before i make speech' is the wordplay.
'order' indicates anagramming the letters.
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'make speech' becomes 'orate' (I've seen this before).
'meal' is an anagram of 'amel'.
'amel'+'i'+'orate'='AMELIORATE'
(Other definitions for ameliorate that I've seen before include "seen to improve" , "Become better" , "Make (something) better" , "Make (a bad thing) better" .)